Bashiok on Upcoming D3 Goodies

After enduring much hounding and pestering, Bashiok has given a non-specific update on when we might see some new D3 stuffs. A poster asked when we’d see 1) substantial new game info, 2) another gameplay movie, and 3) what the next announced character will be. Bashiok replied:

1. Depends on what you consider REAL information. I’m probably not supposed to say that BlizzCast 8 is almost entirely Diablo III related and should be out before the end of the month. It’s going to be a good one and… oh no! Also I personally love the bestiary updates, and you BETTER like the next one we have planned. Or else… 2. When we’re ready to show something off, we’ll show it off. 3. You’ll find out soon enough.

Elsewhere, Bashiok replied to the millionth post guesstimating what D3’s system requirements might be with studied disinterest.

Why is everyone obsessing over system specs right now?

Seriously, why are people worrying about this? Is some company offering big sales on computers ordered 18 months in advance? We won’t see Diablo III in stores for many, many months yet. Blizzard doesn’t know what the system specs are going to be since the game is still under development, and a large part of the design process is tweaking the graphics and AI and other routines to lessen the load on your system. On top of that, what system specs they shoot for depend largely on how the computer market evolves over the next couple of years. The D3 Team has to estimate what the average user will have in their system in 2011, they have to track how hardware prices are fluctuating, etc—and there’s no way to predict that this long before release.

Update: Some valid counter-points in the comments. Laptops can’t be upgraded easily and people don’t want to buy one later this year, only to find out six months later that it’s insufficient for Diablo III. Also, a lot of players still enjoy Diablo II since it will run on far from bleeding edge systems. Those people will definitely need to upgrade for Diablo III, and would like as much advance notice as possible, even if it’s just a rough estimate.

Update #2: Bashiok returned to the thread the next day, and added some info-esque comments.

I wasn’t inferring anything, I was just curious why five threads on the same topic popped up on the topic so close together.

Obviously we haven’t announced any system requirements and won’t until we’re close to release. The best I can think of for those trying to plan hardware purchases is watch any gameplay trailers of Diablo III you can, and then try to compare them to another game that’s out now? It’s really not an accurate measurement though due to… all sorts of things, but it might give you a ballpark idea. Maybe.